A Dragon's Journey

by Coldwall

A painfull arrival

Pain. Lots of it. Holy crap that’s a lot of pain. It felt like I got ran over by a freight train, who then thought it didn’t do such a good of a job the first time, and decided to back up for another pass. In case you couldn’t tell, I was in a lot of pain. It might seem a little redundant to you, but it’s not enough to me. That was about the only thing I could think. I had no memory of how or what happened, because whenever I tried to muster up any form of concentration, the pain was quickly shattering it on contact. Instead I tried to focus on my senses. Not much luck there either. The world was a blurry mass of off-color blurry masses. My ears were undecided between trying to listen to anything and bursting into flames. My head was about to be split open from the migraine running through it. My whole body felt like it was burning. If I could, I would probably be screaming at the top of my lungs, if said lungs didn’t feel like burning lead.

A little while later (and I say “a little while” because I have no idea as to how much time has already gone by), the pain had subsided enough for me to form coherent thoughts. Short ones at that, but none the less, thoughts. The first one that whizzed by was how much pain I was still in. Then there is the question of what in hell could cause so much pain and not outright kill. From there, I tried to backtrack what happened. It wasn’t easy; the migraine-now-demoted-to-heavy-headache ever present. But I managed to press through it, and gain a peep at what I hoped to be that day’s earlier events.

It was a bright and sunny morning. Too bright and sunny if you asked a few late night party goers. As usual, they were planted in the yard outside the dorm, most of them groggily cursing under their breath. I would have pitied them, if it wasn’t for the fact that I told them it was a bad idea to party so late in a school night anyway. I had a few beers myself, but unlike somebody, I knew my limits.

I slowly made my way through the group of hung-over college students to a particular one still lying down on the grass. When I finally reached him, I took a moment to analyze the situation. He has face down in the grass, about a dozen and a half beer bottles randomly thrown around him. After a little formulating, the conclusion that there was only one sensible action was reached. So I screamed at top of my lungs.

“Rise and shine, sleeping beauty!”

“GAH!” was his answer. Quite rude actually, after I took the time to wake him up when I certainly didn’t have to, this is how he reacts. None the less I still smiled like a maniac. “Duuuhuuuude, please stop doing that! It’s going to kill me one of these days!”

“Only thing that has a chance at killing you right now is Mercer. You might want to get going, you know. He doesn’t need more excuses to kick you out.”

“Wait. What? What time is it?”

“It’s 9:32. You got exactly an hour and a half to get rid of the alcohol stench.”

“Crap!” he cursed as he shot up and sprinted towards the dorm. “Thanks a lot Jack!” he yelled over his shoulder.

“Don’t mention it Cole!” I yelled back, waving him off. Somehow, Cole’s antics always seem to brighten my day, even if it was already shining. After that little wakeup call that was beginning to become part of my weekly routine, I set out again. Today was a big day after all. Today was the day I got to show off my designs to hundreds of people. Today was the first student expo of the year. Representatives from almost all companies worth their salt were attending. This was the day that student got to brag in front of prospecting employers and investors in hopes of picking up a job or some money to further their research. I was looking towards the former. I had my newest designs with me, ranging from simple ideas for foundations, to hanging bridges that could cover miles. Only thing I had to do was show up, talk a little bit, maybe answer a few questions, and I would have a guaranteed job as an architectural engineer once my studies were done.

Without realizing it, I reached the school’s exposition hall. I quickly made my way inside and into the crowd. It was a massive crowd I might add, maybe a thousand people in there. Lucky for me and everyone else, the school had this place built specifically for such events, meaning that navigating the crowd wasn’t as difficult as it might have been. I reached my booth and set up shop. I had a relatively simple presentation compared to others. Just a projector, a PowerPoint, and a few 3D models; as opposed to some massive real scale concepts and prototypes I saw on my way.

I had to admit, some of those things were quite impressive. I looked at my watch, and then at my booth, that was now ready. The first representatives weren’t scheduled to arrive for another hour or so. I decided that I had enough time to go browse a little while. And I was glad I did. I saw a few industrial designers that had a lot of talent, and some physicists had some interesting theories, all sparking little strokes of inspiration for me. I took note of them on my phone and kept on looking. I rounded a corner to see a small cluster of people around a display that was significantly larger than others. I squirmed my way through the mass of persons until I reached the epicenter of the commotion. I hate to admit it, but the thing was impressive to look at.

Set up on top of a steel platform was perched a massive steel and titanium ring, wide enough for a truck to pass. There were some cool looking patterns stamped all around it, which some led to tiny spikes on the inside of the ring. Wires were jutting out from its outer diameter, all going back into a myriad of expensive looking computers. Besides it was a short skinny guy wearing a lab coat and thick framed glasses. The only thing missing was a goofy looking bow tie. He was babbling about something about space contraction and bi-dimensional travel or something like that. I wasn’t really paying attention to be honest, I could have made that up for all I know, I was instead trying to figure out how the hell I didn’t see that massive thing from way out.

Before I could answer that question my phone rang out, alerting me that I had ten minutes to make my way back to my booth. I pushed through the enlarging crowd converging on the steel doughnut, and walked towards the booth. To my surprise, it took me about two minutes to get back. Looking in the direction of the circular contraption, I realized that it was probably about a hundred feet away. This gave me enough time to ponder how again, was it that I didn’t spot the thing earlier. It towered over the walls of the booths, making it visible to anyone within the next two hundred yards. I never was known for my observation skills I suppose.

Shaking off the thought, I set about steeling myself for the oncoming interview. Soon enough, the first representatives arrived, looking a bit tired. Understandable, I guess, chances are they had already seen a few dozen presentations. I didn’t want to waste their time, and cause a bad impression. So I started the presentation, diving straight to the point.

“Hello there gentle men!” I beamed. “Allow me to cut all unnecessary chatter and show an idea that will revolutionize theAHGG!” My incredible speech was interrupted. A massive quake shook the building, knocking off everything and everyone that wasn’t bolted into the floor. Screaming in the direction of the space donut caught my attention. I stood up to be greeted by a panicking stampede rushing away from the ring’s booth. There was an eerie purple light was emanating from the booth, where the ring should have been. I sprinted towards it to figure out just what the hell happened. I reached the booth to be greeted to the sight of a black whirlpool in the middle of a collapsed ring.

Then it hit me what the thing was. A warp gate. A freakin’ warp gate. A freakin’ out of control warp gate by the looks of it. I was about to make a run for it when I noticed something. It was the little nerdy guy who was standing besides the gate earlier. He was clamped beneath one of those computers hooked up to the gate. He was struggling to get off under it, but his straw limbs couldn’t muster up the strength needed. Me being the gentleman and overall nice guy I was, I did about the stupidest thing I could have done at that moment. I ran towards the guy, edging away from the runaway dimensional door. I reached the nerd, and with some effort, managed to get the computer of his back. He immediately bolted upright and ran for the door, shouting something along the lines of “thank you”. I was about to do the same when another quake tripped me. I looked at the gate to just in time to see it collapse and implode. The next thing I remember absolute white, and absolute pain.

That would explain it. I got sucked up by an exploding dimensional hole. Now, I’m no physicist or sci-fi nerd, but even I know that getting dragged into an unstable warp gate has dire consequences. I for once, was glad I didn’t die right there. And I would be (hopefully) happier once I figured out where I was. The headache resided into a barely there buzz, allowing my senses to takeover. First thing that my now active senses picked up is the awful taste of copper and chlorine. Why was that, I didn’t know. I took a deep breath, the smell of humid dirt and various plants in the air. I began to listen to my surroundings, a breeze shaking the top of the trees, the sound of small critters in the distance. Then I finally opened my eyes. I was lying down in a small clearing in the middle of what appeared to be a massive forest. It was nighttime, the full moon looming straight up. ‘Well, at least I’m not in hell’ I thought. ‘I hope.’ Everything seemed normal enough, except for one thing. Something was off about the moon. I never took time to look at it very often, so I wasn’t really familiar with it. Yet, something was different about it, something I couldn’t quite put my finger on, but knew it was there. And on top of that, it felt strangely soothing to just look at it, like it was emanating energy, like magic or something. ‘Hah. That’s a funny thought. Magic. Right.’

It was about time I got a move on. I didn’t really know how much time I was out cold, or if there was any food around. The sooner I could find some, the better. Then I heard a distant howl of a wolf. It was far enough for me not to worry, but I still didn’t want to become something’s chew toy. I got enough of that from my sister. I sighed deeply and closed my eyes, reaching for the back of my head to scratch a few itchy scales… To scratch a few itchy scales… Itchy scales… Scales…

What.

My eyes shot open. I raised my hand in front of my face and sure enough, I was looking at a scaly, sharp, set of claws. My scaly, sharp, set of claws. Raising my head from the ground, I took a good look at the rest of my body. It was an elongated, slip-streamed frame, muscles visible even under the scaly hide. The scales themselves were thick, and shined in a deep royal blue. The underbelly was covered by smaller; cream colored scales that diffused the moonlight instead of reflecting it. Further down was an elongated tail that tapered into what seemed like a head of a harpoon. The legs looked strong, yet nimble, and the claws seemed to retain all the dexterity of a human hand. Besides the main body were a set of long, broad, webbed wings, the same blue hue as the body.

The best thing I could to at that moment was stare. My brain was too busy trying to put an ounce of logic into the situation. I didn’t even associate the things I was seeing as mine. They were foreign to me; it simply did not make sense. Then I felt one of the wings twitch. That’s when something in my head clicked. Those are my claws. That is my body. That is my tail. Those are my wings. I was a reptile, a winged one at that. I flipped onto my legs, and carefully stood on all four. At this point in time, my face twisted into twitchy mess. I would laugh if it wasn’t my own. My mind was grinding against itself trying to figure out just what the hell was going on. I was standing on four scaled limbs. It still didn’t make sense.
In an attempt to save myself from a mental meltdown, took a better look around. The forest seemed like an odd combination of your average oak forest, and a jungle. The robust trees were covered in vines, and the ground around them was covered in different varieties of fungi and ferns. That meant I couldn’t really use the forest itself to determine my location, seeing the unlikely combination of biomes.

I took a step forward, only to see the ground reaching to greet my face. I groaned, and got back up. Walking on all fours would need some getting used to. Tried to take another step, dubitably taking moving my paw (it’s called a paw right? I don’t know) forward. It landed, and I had yet to eat dirt again. Good. I moved the other one forward, and put it on the ground. That apparently didn’t work, seeing as my back legs were still in place, stretching out under me. That hurt a little bit, but it felt good at the same time, kinda when you stretch your legs after you wake up from a nap. Actually, that’s pretty much what I did. Tried backing up again, only to lose balance and tilt backwards.

To my surprise, I landed on my hind quarters, and managed to balance myself there. Somehow, it felt kind of natural, as in, I was not struggling to keep my balance, and it was actually a bit comfy. And top of that, it allowed me extend my full frame upwards, allowing for a peek at over the tree tops. The forest seemed to extend over for miles, but I could see a few lights off in the distance. ‘Ha! Civilization! No camping out for me tonight!’ I started to make my way out of the clearing, but then the ground thought it missed me and came to say hi. Right, can’t walk on two legs. I lifted myself, again, and tried to remember as to how lizards move. After a few experimental steps, I managed to get a pattern set. Now I could move. Good. Again, I began to head out towards the lights, only to be interrupted by my stomach this time.

At this point in time, I about lost it. The situation was way too weird. I was moving in a skin that wasn’t my own, in the middle of an unidentified forest, in what could be another dimension for what I knew, alone, and now I was hungry. Great. Fucking great. I was about ready to scream in frustration, and in all honesty, I couldn’t find a reason not to.

“Goddamn it. Goddamnit. GODDAMNIT!”

“Eep!”

I whirled around in surprise. Someone was there! Someone who could possibly help! For the first time since I got here, I smiled. That smile was gone in about two seconds though. Because when I finally spotted my company, I was startled, and utterly confused. Staring back at me from behind the bush line, was a small yellow horse. It had a pink mane that covered half of its face. I’m skipping any further description, because I know who she is, and so do you. She was Fluttershy. The ever-adorable shy pony of Ponyville. The ever fainting pony too, as she was clearly demonstrating now.

Normally, I would have rushed to her side under normal conditions. But this was far from normal under any book. To recap, I was a blue reptile, a dragon from what I now deduced, staring at a yellow flying horse, which was now passed out about fifty feet out. Yep. My head was reeling. Not because I didn’t know what was happening, but the opposite. I knew where I was, and I was defectively not happy about that. I was in Equestria, home to magic wielding unicorns and flying pegasi. Home to manticores and hydras, dragons and ursas. It was, for a lack of a better word, impossible. A malfunctioning warp gate send me to the land of Equestria. There was only one thing to say.

“… Aww crap.”